Nando

My life started out as one of seven in a litter of either all gray or all black kittens in a shelter across town. I looked like my mom a Russian blue. My siblings and I were named after the seven dwarfs but that never made a lot of sense to me.

The shelter employees say that I was the most playful in my litter so I am not sure why they named me Grumpy. I am never grumpy.

When I was a few weeks old Bashful and Sleepy left with a family then Happy left. Little did I know that I was the next one to leave.

One day a couple came in and let me outside. She took me into her arms, petted me and I ran as fast as I could. I ran and ran and ran! What did the bench smell like? How high could I see if I was sitting on the cat tower? What do the humans do on the other side of the counter?

These were the questions that I had always pondered about and now I could finally find out for myself! I planned to escape through the big double doors until the man caught me. The man said that he liked me because he thought I was cheeky and had character. He told his wife that I was the kitten they should pick. They put me in a carrier and she kissed him. He said to her, “happy birthday my love”. The next 45 minutes were horrible. They placed me into a car and I hated it. I couldn’t keep my balance as the car drove and all I wanted to do was get out of the carrier. I screamed, “Help me! Help me! Help me!” but no one listened. I tried scratching my way out, kicking and getting really angry. Luckily, the journey didn’t last too long. The wife is my owner (Trish) and she let her husband (Luke) rename me after one of his favorite soccer players who plays for Chelsea Football Club; Fernando Torres but everyone calls me Nando like the restaurant.

The first few days in my new home I was able to explore. I could tell that someone else was here but it wasn’t a feline and then I finally met her, a dog. She was huge and I am pretty sure she wanted to eat me. Trish picked me up and allowed her to sniff me. All I wanted to do was run away; she was scary! Trish came to my rescue a few times when the dog put her mouth over my head. I hissed and ran away. She stopped doing this after a while but she kept staring at me for the next month. Then she would stare at me with her bum in the air and her tail wagging all over the place!

Was she mad? What did she want? I was really confused.

On a really boring day when Trish and Luke were at work I decided that I wanted to play. I ran down the stairs, through the kitchen and into the living room where she was sleeping. I slapped her on the nose with my paw, quickly made a U-turn and headed back through the kitchen and tried to go into hiding.

She barked at me. Then I froze. I didn’t make it into my top secret hiding place. She put her bum up in the air and wagged her tail again. She sniffed me then put my leg in her mouth. ‘Oh, I see that she wants to play!’ I slapped her again with my other paw. She barked and I rolled on the ground and attacked her with my vicious claws as she sniffed my belly.

After this we were friends.